HUNTINGTON BEACH, SC - May 25-27, 2007
Tom, Margaret and McLean prepare dinner.It can always be dicey trying to travel and stay at the beach on Memorial Day weekend due to the crowds. But this year, with prompting from our friends Tom and Margaret, we decided to do just that. A bit of a twist though - we elected to rough it by camping. I always thought the idea of camping at the beach would be fun, but hadn't yet done it. Fortunately, South Carolina has some great state parks and one of them - Huntington Beach - is only three hours from Charlotte. We headed out early Friday, winding our way through the South Carolina country down to the coast, arriving in time to set up camp and still spend an hour on the sand.
The four of us spent all day Saturday on the beach. Tom and Margaret are big into fishing so they set up their rigs and had a few bites on the line. McLean and I are, well, big into sleeping so we relaxed on the sand most of the time. Tom and I even battled it out with a kite war or two before calling it a day. Although the daily catch wasn't much, Tom cooked up blackened fish as part of dinner. Nothing like fresh caught seafood!
You've been warned!Saturday evening, as we sat around the campfire, a sudden cracking of sticks in the brush near our campsite caught our attention. I grabbed a flashlight and headed into the woods Steve Erwin style, only to see a GIANT raccoon staring at me with big yellow eyes through the trees. I'd like to say that I grabbed that 'coon by the tail, whipped it around a tree and sent it scurrying. That'd be a lie. Actually, I ran out of the woods screaming like a 10 year old girl. As the raccoon took off, the rest of our group caught a glimpse of the beast, who was easily the size of a beagle. I guess he's had his share of campsite leftovers.
On a pier overlooking the lagoon.Continuing the Steve Erwin experience, on Sunday we visited the lagoon and I got my first glimpse of an alligator in the wild. Pretty cool, until he jumped out of the water and gave me a heart attack. Nonetheless, it was worth the picture! We also saw some of the conservation projects underway, including habitats created for shellfish.
It was a short trip, but a fun time and we'll definitely consider camping at this park again, though next time I can do without the wildlife.
